Monday, December 31, 2018

The Dropping of the Ball on New Year's Eve

 Something Old, Something New: New Year’s Eve Then and Now

    New Year's is not new. Some form of it has been celebrated for thousands of years on every continent and probably for as long as there have been human communities. The first recorded celebrations come from some 2,5000 years ago in Mesopotamia-Iraq. This is the place most historians agree civilization started. Around spring and fall equinoxes, when days and nights were of equal length, they celebrated both the planting season and the harvest season as days of renewal for the cities,  the surrounding areas, and of the earth itself. “Akitu” was the name of the festival, and historians look to those week-long celebrations as the first recorded instances of celebrating what might be called a “new year.” Of course, such celebrations are really much older that that; people did things long before humans invented writing and keeping records.  But once farming and agriculture became mainstays of human activity people simply had to know the when the ideal times were to plant and to harvest. Knowing the cycle of the seasons became essential to city survival.  We also realized that what happened in the sky influenced and heralded what would happen on earth, so we kept track of what we now call equinoxes, solstices, moon phases and more.  And to attempt to have these occurrences benefit us, we developed rituals, celebrations, and practices to try to influence the force or forces that controlled those things. We were literally hoping and praying for outcomes that would benefit us in the future. New year celebrations were originally a part of this process. And like most human celebrations, the observances involved ritual foods, ritual actions, ritual music, ritual dancing, and ritual prayer and introspection. Humans tend to meet the same realities of life in pretty much the same ways, and ritual, religion, symbol, and music are all among the ways we signify that something important and special is taking place. It is simply what we humans do.

    However, when we think of New Year’s Eve celebrations today most folks are not thinking about global cultural history and/or how what we do today links to what humans have done for thousands of years. Most folks are instead thinking about Times Square, New York City, the countdown, and that big shiny ball dropping down. Even if we are not planning to watch it, we are all aware of this event happening. I used to love to watch it on TV when I was much younger, begging my mother to let me stay up so I could watch it. The crowd, the colors, the noise and the outlandishness all amazed me. There was the confetti, the movie and music stars, the noise, the big ball and the drama of thousands of people counting down all together, me along with them. It was a secular ritual, I realized as I grew older and understood it more. And I was and am still fascinated by how so many aspects of it connect to some of our most ancient ways.  Some 1 million people crowd into Times Square for this celebration-1 MILLION people. The thought that 1 million people would willingly want to stand together in freezing cold weather in New York City for hours is mind-boggling. And many of those people there are drunk, high, and almost out of control. What sense does that make?? No one in their right mind would suggest doing that as a fun way to spend time in New York City.  But of course, we are often “out of our minds” in the midst of a ritual. Ritual can transform us and take us to a totally different state of being in which the irrational makes perfect sense. It is estimated that over 1 billion—1 BILLION- people watch the show on TV around the world, even in places where the time differences mean it may already really be past midnight and a new year where they actually are.  Who knows how many people watch it on the web or YouTube or Facebook Live. It is truly a worldwide phenomenon-one of the very few things that universally and temporarily unite us as a species. Whether we watch it or deliberately avoid it, we are all aware of it. It is that universal. But how did this come to be? How did this place and this particular ceremony come to symbolize the coming of a New Year to so many people of so many different nationalities, colors, religions, and cultures?  Well, it all started with one businessman and some unique things about the early part of the 20th century.

  Adolph Ochs was publisher of the New York Times, for which Times Square was named. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the advent of new technologies that could seemingly conquer heights, hold up the new “skyscraper” buildings, light up the whole night sky, create vehicles that did not need animals to move, and much, much more. It seemed as if something new was being developed every day. Ochs and the Times were spearheading the northern and western growth of New York City beyond its Lower Manhattan starting point by the rivers and the ports. He wanted to call attention to and spur this uptown growth; he saw it as essential to the economic growth of the city. Ochs liked to throw lavish parties, and he was one of the early promoters of “grand spectacles” that the 20th century would so regularly produce. To that end he started staging New Year’s Eve parties that filled the air above the Times building with fireworks and bright lights. These events became immensely popular, and they drew thousands of spectators uptown to view them and to think about the area. But fireworks above meant hot ashes falling to the ground below. This was clearly dangerous, so the city banned the fireworks for 1907 going into1908.

  Ochs’s flashy fireworks display had started drawing Manhattanites uptown and away from the traditional New Year’s celebration at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan.  There worshipers and celebrants listened to the tolling of the church’s bells to signal a new year. The bells were amplified on sound trucks and they were still a popular draw. But it was still somewhat “old school.” If Ochs was going to continue to draw people uptown and away from Trinity, he needed a new big draw: a new spectacle. He found one a few blocks away from his office by doing what we now call “re-positioning,”

    “Time balls’ were an answer to the problem of keeping accurate time at sea for ships. Developed in the early 1800’s, most port cities had them by the turn of the century. They were huge colorful balls that would rest atop high buildings. They would descend exactly at noon every day so that maritimers could know the exact time. They could then use that information to set their chronometers, measure longitude, and navigate more accurately.  As the telegraph developed, coastal cities with time balls in place began to telegraph the exact time to other cities.  Humans had managed to figure a way to precisely measure and standardize time in a huge way, just in time for the new factory age of mass production that was to come. Most cities had time balls by the early 1900’s, and most people knew what they were. Philadelphia had one atop the Bourse Building for several years. Western Union, the major telegraph company, had one at its New York office near the Times. It would descend every weekday at noon to let people know exactly what time it was. Ochs had found what he needed; he had a large time ball built, and on December 31st, 1907 thousands of people gazed up at the New York Times building and spied a big, shiny, 700 pound ball atop a flagpole on the building that was awash in huge multi-colored electric lights. As midnight approached, workers began lowering the giant ball by ropes and pullies. On top of the Times building a giant electric sign counted down the seconds until the ball reached the bottom. At the precise moment it landed, the number “1908” lit up the night sky. People went nuts; there were shots fired, people kissing each other, trumpets and noisemakers going off, and these new things called “automobiles” honking their horns. It was a smash hit, and both a tradition and a new ritual were born.

 The ball drop was immensely popular. Promoting and covering it quickly became a staple of magazine and newspaper articles, and when radio came along it went national. It and Times Square eventually became some of the signature things about New York City. When TV came on the scene, it became a big draw for network TV, pulling in millions of viewers and eventually billions of advertising dollars. It is now an international phenomenon, and I cannot see that stopping anytime soon. The ball has been re-designed several times, it has been made of different substances, and it is now run by a computer timed to the atomic clock. It is not the same 700 pond ball that started the tradition.

 But in many important ways it really is the same ball. Beneath all of this technological change and modernization and improvement we can see the age-old themes of meeting important events the world regularly brings to us with ritual, symbol, and as a group. Yes, it started a as a publicity stunt, a smart business move, and perhaps just as a way of showing off. But it has since become something all its own. It is a worldwide, collective ritual now.  It belongs to the world. And for just a little while, that world becomes one big village when it happens. That is the power of ritual taking place, and I think that is a good thing.

So however you celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s, know that you are standing with countless generations of humans who have gone before us; who have collectively looked at what was going on around them and figured out ways to respond to it. Yes, we are digital and modern and “civilized,” whatever that means. Essentially, though, we are just humans navigating our way through the world and trying to cope, survive, and maybe do a little better. Thus it is, and thus it has always been. Do have a very Happy New Year.

 (If you are interested in time balls, here are two links that explain there history and how they were used)

Thursday, December 13, 2018

The Coming of the Winter Solstice

 “ Heading into the night of the winter solstice, every spiritual tradition has some kind of festival of light. We're all just whistling in the dark, hoping against hope that someone up there will see these little candles and get the hint.” Lawrence Kushner
I love looking at ritual and symbolism, particularly as they relate to mythologies, human celebrations and observances. I think there is something in looking at those things that links us to all of the humans who have come before us from all around the world and across time. We are all human, after all, and when we get past the specific details of our rituals and cultural ways we have done pretty much the same things in pretty much the same ways for most of our existence. Humans, for example, have always had to note, mark, respond to, symbolize and ritualize what we see and experience in the natural world on an ongoing basis. All of us. Humans have developed these things to show our deep dependence on, awareness of, and connection to the natural world. Whether it is just about physical survival, deep emotional fear or hope, reverential worship, or deep spiritual love, or all of these things, we have done this seemingly for as long as we have been on the planet. It is simply what we do; we can’t live in this world without doing it. It is one of the things that make us human. And we always do it most intensely around the time of changes in the seasons.
For Northern Hemisphere residents, next week marks one of those changes. It is the winter solstice-the start of winter. The sun seems higher in the sky as the motion of the earth dramatically changes the location of the sun to us and the amount of daylight we get in a 24 hour period. The solstice is the day with the least amount of sunlight for the year, and we have always been aware of that. On our modern calendar that means December 21stinto the 22.nd For some of us in the ancient world this occurrence meant both fear and reverence. The sun died that day and had to be brought back to life. Prayers, dances, special foods, music and especially ritual were used during this period to accomplish this task. It was vital to our survival.
 Rituals are group events. The whole family or village or town or settlement has to be involved. Unlike a one-day equinox, the solstice lasts for three days, and it was/is believed by many peoples that on that third day, had the rituals been followed correctly, the sun would be reborn and all would be right once more. We would again enjoy the benefits of the sun in the sky. Days following the solstice gradually get longer, so the solstice was looked at as a form of “celestial rebirth.” And coming out of the longest period of night in the year, it’s happening had to be met with light in most of the Hemisphere. There are tons of solstice themed observances around the world, and light and rebirth play a key role in most of them.
  We can see remnants of those ancient traditions in many of our contemporary winter observances. In northern China there is the tradition of Dong Zhi, the arrival of winter. It is a family reunion time, and they eat gluttonous rice balls that symbolize the family and village being back together and facing the winter as one. The days get longer after Dong Zhi, so the rituals provide power and faith to restore the sun and bring positive energy-light-back into our lives. In many cultures candles, burning logs and bonfires pay homage to the missing sun and are employed to bring the sun back. In Scandinavia folks celebrated Jul by lighting fires from special trees, including a log from the previous year’s celebration.

This was an acknowledgement of the sun’s return and a thanks to Thor who made it possible. Yalda in Iran celebrates the snatching of the sun back from the devil and its gradual return to the sky look over the earth.  Again, there are special foods and fires connected with these festivals. Saturnalia, the birthday of the Roman god Saturn, was celebrated from approximately December 17 through the solstice days with feasts, a temporary reversal of social roles and expectations, and what we might call sexual excess. It was a party time similar in many ways to Mardi Gras with parades, music, and grand feasts. In that part of the world it was also the start of the winter sowing season, so the sexual activities that were originally associated with it were symbolic of planting, harvesting and the re-birth of the earth and the sky. There was also gift giving, candle lighting, group singing and feasting-universal components of most Northern Hemisphere winter observances.  Many of these things are now considered standard features of our own Christmas celebrations; in fact here are many historians who consider Saturnalia the most origin of many of today’s Christmas activities.
  So this is a fun time of the year for me. I get to think about us as humans and all of the ways we see and do things similarly. We all have to find ways to acknowledge what is going on around us in the natural world, to figure out how to make the world work for us, and to come to terms with the realization that we don’t have all the answers or all the power. We may work and struggle to have things make sense and to work out, but no matter where we all or when we ae, we all use pretty much the same symbols, rituals, and practices; we all have the same toolbox. Something about that comforts me and lets me know that I am just human and that we are all, despite some obvious differences, essentially the same. I hope you can all find joy and comfort in the coming season.

Monday, December 3, 2018

An Ode to Light


 (We have had a lot of rain and grey days these last few weeks, and frankly, they have had me somewhat depressed. I am an early morning person, and most times waking up to misty fog and the sound of rain is pleasant to me; it almost feels like a movie set or a set piece in a piece of dramatic fiction. But of late, I have just been tired of it. It has been bringing me down and I am tired of it. While I am fortunately not afflicted with it, I can understand why SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a real thing. Humans need light, and lately I am missing it.

To that end, I remembered a newsletter I sent out way back in 2014 about December, celebrations, and light. Reading it helped lift my mood, so I thought I would send it out again, lightly edited, in the week that starts the Hanukkah celebration. Consider it an ode to light.)

Let There Be Lights:

December is the time of many celebrations. There is, of course, Christmas and the minor celebrations leading up to it and associated with it, including Advent, the 12 Days of Christmas, Yule, and others depending on your ethnicity and your religious tradition. There is also Hanukkah with its 8 days of oil based food and dreidel playing, and Kwanzaa with its celebration of Pan-African culture and values. And if you are Buddhist, Hopi, Hindu, traditional Persian, Wiccan, or West African Dogon, there are celebrations for you as well during this month. In fact, what many of us think of as elements of traditional Christmas celebrations actually have their roots in the Wiccan and Persian traditions. And there are many other celebrations from many other different religious and ethnic traditions from around the world taking place during this month. December is a month rich with observances, rituals and celebrations. What so many of these celebrations and observances have in common is the prominence of light in the ceremonies. Candles, bonfires, logs, electric lights, tree lights, flashing lights-light is the common element, metaphor and symbol worldwide at this time of the year. We need and must celebrate light.

It make perfect sense that humans are so light conscious in December. Humans look to nature to try to figure out what is coming and what God or the gods have in store for us. For most of our history that has meant looking to the sky-to the sun, the moon and the stars. Humans have known for centuries that the length of the days was changing at this time of the year and that the winter solstice was coming. This became a time of deep spiritual meaning for early humans, and it was marked in many different ways depending upon geography and culture. As the length of the days shortened and then magically, slowly increased, it was as if the earth was being reborn and we were living through and witnessing that process. We had to acknowledge it and honor it, else it may not happen again. So symbolically, many cultures created rituals that recognized it as a time of rebirth. Many of the stories, myths and traditions from different times and places began to associate this time with miraculous births, enlightenment, miracles, and/or new beginnings. The Druid bonfires and the Germanic and Norse Yule logs, for example, were symbolic and metaphoric symbols of cleansing, sacrifice, and the simultaneous death and rebirth of the earth-from the shortest day of the year to gradually more and more hours of sunlight. To the ancient Persians this was the time of the Yalda festival, and Mithras, the symbol of truth, strength, goodness and light, was born to a virgin mother at this time of the year. His birth was celebrated with flame and holy fire. Sol Invictus, the Roman sun god, was also celebrated at this time. We humans even long ago seemed to know that we had to meet the darkness with light. 

New beginnings are important in most religious traditions, and light is a strong metaphor for that. Our language shows that it still is. We speak of “seeing the light, or “coming into the light.” There is the “inner light and we “let our light shine.”  Transformation and rebirth are readily spoken of and alluded to in so many of the rituals and ceremonies in our religions, especially at this time of the year. Hanukkah is about rebirth and new beginnings as it celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem from its desecration when Antiochus made it into a Greek temple. The candles symbolize, in part, the rebirth of the religion. The candles in Kwanzaa symbolize the reawakened connection and awareness of African values and connections for people of African descent. To Buddhists, Bodhi Day in December celebrates the Buddha becoming a Buddha-an “enlightened” one who suddenly could see beyond illusion. To Christians, the Star of Bethlehem symbolically led to a new beginning for humans, as it led the Wise Men to the birthplace of Jesus. In all these traditions, light was symbolically leading us forward.

And light is as powerful today to us humans as it was when we first figured out the solstice and what it could mean. Tradition has it that Martin Luther saw stars one night as he was composing a sermon and tried to capture their beauty by adding lighted candles to the Christmas tree inside his house. Whether that is true or not, by the time the Germanic tradition of the Christmas tree reached the US the idea of lights were a fixture.  And now there are lighted houses, malls, streets, yards, shops and more. We are awash in lights; there are even whole streets and neighborhoods that collaborate to plan what their light scheme is going to be each holiday season. And many families now have a tradition of driving to visit different neighborhoods just to see the light displays.

So our ancient connection to the rhythms and structures of the natural world are in some ways still with us, even if we do not recognize them as such. As up to date and modern as we are in this digital age, we are still human, and that means we are still connected to our ancestors and their beliefs in some important and primal ways. As we celebrate our various rituals, traditions and personal rituals this season, I hope you can spend some time outside looking up and taking some time to marvel at what is going on up there. The sun, the moon, the constellations: it is quite miraculous, and it still influences so much of what we do down here. Do have a safe, warm, happy, love and light filled holiday season.  Enjoy the magic of light.